Yep, if someone's gonna profit, it might as well be my family!!! ;)
On Mon, Jan 4, 2016 at 12:30 PM, plainolamerican <[email protected]> wrote: > My Parents and Sister are in Florida, too bad they aren't cops!!! > --- > so they too could be on the take? > > On Saturday, January 2, 2016 at 5:51:23 PM UTC-6, brine wrote: >> >> My Parents and Sister are in Florida, too bad they aren't cops!!! >> >> On Sat, Jan 2, 2016 at 3:14 PM, Travis <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/entire-florida-police-department-busted-for-laundering-millions-for-international-drug-cartels/ >>> Entire Florida police department busted for laundering millions for >>> international drug cartels >>> >>> The village of Bal Harbour, population 2,513, may have a tiny footprint >>> on the northern tip of Miami Beach, but its police department had grand >>> aspirations of going after international drug traffickers, and making a few >>> million dollars while they were at it. >>> >>> The Bal Harbour PD and the Glades County Sheriff’s Office *set up a >>> giant money laundering scheme* >>> <http://pubsys.miamiherald.com/static/media/projects/2015/license-to-launder/index.html> >>> with the purported goal of busting drug cartels and stemming the surge of >>> drug dealing going on in the area. But it all fell apart when federal >>> investigators and the Miami-Herald found strange things going on. >>> >>> The two-year operation, which took in more than $55 million from >>> criminal groups, *resulted in zero arrests* but netted $2.4 million for >>> the police posing as money launderers. Members of the 12-person task force >>> traveled far and wide to carry out their deals, from Los Angeles to New >>> York to Puerto Rico. >>> >>> Along the way, the small-town cops got a taste of luxury as they used >>> the money for first-class flights, luxury hotels, Mac computers and >>> submachine guns. Meanwhile, the Bal Harbour PD and Glades County Sheriffs >>> were buying all sorts of fancy new equipment. >>> >>> Besides these “official” uses of the money, confidential records >>> obtained by the Miami-Herald show that officers withdrew hundreds of >>> thousands of dollars with no record of where the money went. >>> >>> *“They were like bank robbers with badges,” said Dennis Fitzgerald, an >>> attorney and former Drug Enforcement Administration agent who taught >>> undercover tactics for the U.S. State Department. “It had no law >>> enforcement objective. The objective was to make money.”* >>> >>> The operation, which was not fully reported to federal authorities, >>> funneled millions of dollars to overseas criminals and interfered with >>> investigations being carried out on known money launderers. >>> >>> The *latest revelations* >>> <http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article51698275.html> >>> show that at least 20 people in Venezuela were sent drug money from the >>> Florida cops, including William Amaro Sanchez, the foreign minister under >>> Hugo Chavez and now special assistant to President Nicolas Maduro. >>> >>> They wired a total of $211,000 to Sanchez, even while the U.S. >>> government was investigating Venezuelan government leaders involved in the >>> drug trade. Instead of reporting their knowledge of Sanchez to federal >>> agencies, the cops went on laundering money, taking their cut, and all the >>> while aiding Sanchez in his machinations, which likely included political >>> corruption. >>> >>> Four other Venezuelan criminals and smugglers were major recipients of >>> the millions being wired from the Bal Harbour PD and Glades County >>> Sheriff’s Office, including a figure tied to one of the largest drug >>> cartels in the hemisphere. >>> >>> These actions violated strict federal bans on sending illegal money >>> overseas, and the Florida cops never investigated the backgrounds of the >>> people receiving their laundered drug money. >>> >>> *“I can’t think of a more podunk town than Bal Harbour — not in a bad >>> way. But in the sense that these cops would have otherwise been stopping >>> traffic or shooting radar,” said Ruben Oliva, who has represented alleged >>> narco-traffickers since the 1980s. “In reality they were being launderers. >>> The minute they started doing busts, it would have been over.* >>> >>> *“This is like a movie. You’ve got these guys and they’re flying all >>> over. They’re saying, ‘Hey, I’m in the big leagues.’ I’ve seen every kind >>> of law enforcement money-laundering investigations. I’ve never seen >>> anything like this. It’s really one for the ages.”* >>> >>> After the Department of Justice busted the Bal Harbour PD for >>> misspending seized money to pay police salaries, the Miami-Herald began >>> deeper investigations and found a much bigger pool of money that was never >>> noticed by the feds. Soon after that, the ambitious sting operation—which >>> was really just a money-making scheme—began to fall apart. >>> >>> *“The Miami Herald gained unprecedented access to the confidential >>> records of the undercover investigation, reviewing thousands of records >>> including cash pickup reports, emails, DEA reports, bank statements and >>> wire transfers for millions of dollars. The inquiry found:* >>> >>> *▪ Police routinely withdrew cash — thousands at a time — totaling $1.3 >>> million from undercover bank accounts, but to this day there are no records >>> to show where the money was spent. “In all my years of law enforcement, >>> I’ve never seen anything like it,” Chief Overton said.* >>> >>> *▪ Bal Harbour officials say they cannot find receipts for hundreds of >>> thousands in expenses, including five-star hotel bookings, dinners that ran >>> up to $1,000 and scores of purchases like laptops, iPads, electronic money >>> counters, flower deliveries, and even iTunes downloads.* >>> >>> *▪ While posing as launderers, police delivered nearly $20 million to >>> storefront businesses in Miami-Dade to launder the money for drug groups — >>> gathering critical evidence against the business owners — yet took no >>> action against them. Years later, the businesses are still open, some still >>> suspected by federal agents of laundering for the cartels.”* >>> >>> Cash deposits to SunTrust Bank *totaling $28 million* do not appear >>> anywhere in police records. It’s no coincidence that the operation was >>> launched “at a time law enforcement agencies across Florida were looking to >>> boost their budgets during one of the state’s toughest economic periods.” >>> >>> *“We had to find a revenue stream,” said Duane Pottorff, chief of law >>> enforcement for Glades. “It allowed us to have resources we wouldn’t >>> normally have.”* >>> >>> Federal authorities and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have >>> launched probes into the Bal Harbour police, which will surely confirm the >>> rampant abuses of power. However, the fact that these types of shady >>> operations, carried out with the help of agencies such as Immigration and >>> Customs Enforcement, can occur at all is even more troubling. >>> >>> Government creates a black market of drugs and blood money through >>> prohibition, then under the War on Drugs it grants itself the power to >>> break the law and get involved in money laundering operations. While the >>> professed goal is to “sting” the bad guys, government rakes in millions >>> upon millions of dollars to further bolster its prohibition and war on >>> drugs. >>> >>> The War on Drugs is the real scheme that should be investigated. >>> >>> *This story first appeared at The Free Thought Project* >>> <http://thefreethoughtproject.com/small-town-cops-set-giant-international-money-laundering-scheme-rake-millions-illegally/> >>> . >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> __._,_.___ >>> ------------------------------ >>> Posted by: "Beowulf" <[email protected]> >>> ------------------------------ >>> >>> >>> Visit Your Group >>> <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmaGV0YmxpBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0NTE3NTgyMDM-> >>> >>> >>> [image: Yahoo! 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